Subtle Asian Traits

Submission 18,109

About

Subtle Asian Traits is a Facebook group for first and second-generation Asian immigrants to Western countries. The group grew extremely popular, gaining nearly 1 million members in less than three months. It has also spawned discourse in Asian communities as some have argued that the content of the group perpetuates self-hatred among asian communities.

History

The group was founded September 16th, 2018 by twelve Chinese students in Melbourne, Australia.^[1] Over the course of three months, the group grew to over 880,000 members.^[2] Members of the group use the memes to bond over universal experiences in the Asian community. Speaking to Mashable,^[3] member Will Park wrote, "The second gen Asian experience is so universal… Because they fit in super well until they're abruptly reminded they don't." Memes on the page often discuss love of Asian food, differences between Asian and White communities, and using free time to practice music or other activities (examples shown below).

The popularity of the group has spawned other "subtle X traits" groups, including "subtle curry traits,"^[4] "subtle christian traits,"^[5] and others. The group's popularity also led to coverage in the New York Times.^[6]

Discourse

The group has also drawn some criticism from within the asian community. Reddit user bhaozi posted to /r/aznidentity^[7] saying the group featured memes perpetuating self-hate amongst asians, including "small dick jokes" and "bad Asian parenting jokes." Others have pointed to examples of those of east-Asian descent using anti-black slurs and looking down on southeast asian communities.^[3]